Bastard 4 door 64 440 Resto
I have been looking for a new project these last few months but wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I went to this little crap buy here pay here style car auction to sell a few cheap trade-ins I had and saw this car just sitting there. No one bids on classic cars at these auctions so i stayed to see what it went for.......$2800 BUCKS!
Rundown:
-1964 Dodge 440 (aka polara)
-360 engine runs like a top. 1st crank start. Weiland intake and Holley carb.
-Cool push button 727 torqueflite trans that shift amazing.
-Tracks perfectly on the highway @ 80 mph
-...and ICE COLD A/C!!!!!
-Nice Flowtech exhaust with manual cutouts.
-also has flame thrower kit, lol. Doesnt work but lets me know the PO was elderly.
-The red interior is in great shape. Just needs some freshing up.
-Solid frame, Doors & Rear Quarters.
Its just a really comfortable cruiser.
The bad:
The car had a repaint but it was a hack job. Tons of skim coat and 2 rust holes that were patched with fabric cloth and tons of bondo. Also the clear coat on the roof and hood is peeling. So it needs a complete repaint with some mild body work.
The plan is to switch the color to black but keep the red side stripe. Switch the front drums to disk and add 18" wheels to the front and 20" on the back. Then spruce the engine up a bit. Nothing major.
I started by accessing the 2 rust spots.
Front Drivers side Cowl:
This one was really bad. I am pulling the wind shield tonight to see how much welding room I have.
Rear Passenger Cowl:
Did some further exploration on the front cowl rust. Of course it was worse than previously thought but still fixable:
Fixing the rear passenger window cowl rust:
Still waiting on the new front drivers cowl panel to come in. This was good practice.
Fixed a 50 cent piece size rust hole on the drivers qtr panel:
Then stripped her all the way naked and commenced with the sanding. Bondo'd/ skimcoated areas were taken to bare metal, clean areas were just roughed up for primer. 40 grit for both.
I had to use aircraft stripper on the trunk lid. I don't know what the material was but it was white and in between the primer and top coat. Tough as nails and thick, might have been some crazy sealer. 40 grit was taking forever.
Received my repro drivers side cowl I purchased on ebay from American Muscle Car Parts. Quick shipping and very responsive to email. The piece is a perfect fit and much bigger than I need.
Now the hard part.....making the inner cowl panel to mount the windshield wiper mechanism. I also need to fill in the cowl vents. Seems this is done on most 64' dodges due to the pooling of water causing this kind of rust.
I was just about to tackle the front cowl when my cheap pneumatic body saw broke. So I switched over to adding a lil POR-15 to the cars known problem areas and also applied some body filler (Evercoat Rage) to the spots that I welded up. FYI prepped the whole car with OSPHO and mineral spirits prior to any body work.
Stay tuned...
I have been looking for a new project these last few months but wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I went to this little crap buy here pay here style car auction to sell a few cheap trade-ins I had and saw this car just sitting there. No one bids on classic cars at these auctions so i stayed to see what it went for.......$2800 BUCKS!
Rundown:
-1964 Dodge 440 (aka polara)
-360 engine runs like a top. 1st crank start. Weiland intake and Holley carb.
-Cool push button 727 torqueflite trans that shift amazing.
-Tracks perfectly on the highway @ 80 mph
-...and ICE COLD A/C!!!!!
-Nice Flowtech exhaust with manual cutouts.
-also has flame thrower kit, lol. Doesnt work but lets me know the PO was elderly.
-The red interior is in great shape. Just needs some freshing up.
-Solid frame, Doors & Rear Quarters.
Its just a really comfortable cruiser.
The bad:
The car had a repaint but it was a hack job. Tons of skim coat and 2 rust holes that were patched with fabric cloth and tons of bondo. Also the clear coat on the roof and hood is peeling. So it needs a complete repaint with some mild body work.
The plan is to switch the color to black but keep the red side stripe. Switch the front drums to disk and add 18" wheels to the front and 20" on the back. Then spruce the engine up a bit. Nothing major.
I started by accessing the 2 rust spots.
Front Drivers side Cowl:
This one was really bad. I am pulling the wind shield tonight to see how much welding room I have.
Rear Passenger Cowl:
Did some further exploration on the front cowl rust. Of course it was worse than previously thought but still fixable:
Fixing the rear passenger window cowl rust:
Still waiting on the new front drivers cowl panel to come in. This was good practice.
Fixed a 50 cent piece size rust hole on the drivers qtr panel:
Then stripped her all the way naked and commenced with the sanding. Bondo'd/ skimcoated areas were taken to bare metal, clean areas were just roughed up for primer. 40 grit for both.
I had to use aircraft stripper on the trunk lid. I don't know what the material was but it was white and in between the primer and top coat. Tough as nails and thick, might have been some crazy sealer. 40 grit was taking forever.
Received my repro drivers side cowl I purchased on ebay from American Muscle Car Parts. Quick shipping and very responsive to email. The piece is a perfect fit and much bigger than I need.
Now the hard part.....making the inner cowl panel to mount the windshield wiper mechanism. I also need to fill in the cowl vents. Seems this is done on most 64' dodges due to the pooling of water causing this kind of rust.
I was just about to tackle the front cowl when my cheap pneumatic body saw broke. So I switched over to adding a lil POR-15 to the cars known problem areas and also applied some body filler (Evercoat Rage) to the spots that I welded up. FYI prepped the whole car with OSPHO and mineral spirits prior to any body work.
Stay tuned...